My 7 year old Card Shark

Can I just say I love having older kids. Yesterday my 7 year old son told me he wanted to play Bicycle. I looked at what he had in his hand, and I noticed a deck of cards that said Bicycle on the top of them. I laughed and told him I would teach him a new game. I taught him "King's Corner" and he actually beat me the first round. I was so surprised because you have to process and think and count backwards and be aware of what is on the "table". That was so much fun. We played 2 more games and he beat me 2 out of 3. I can hardly wait to play more games. I love games! ... and I never thought having kids could be this much fun. Now I can hardly wait until amusement parks.

Christmas with my kids

This morning we went to the Christmas parade in Raleigh. Can I just say I love hanging out with you guys and can hardly wait to spend the rest of my life hanging out with you. You guys make me laugh... you make me crazy, but I love seeing your individual personalities develop. You are all so great! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

"...hit me. hit me."

Hey kids... I always come here with an apology. I wish I had pictures to post right now because there are so many pictures in my head and heart that are bringing a smile to my heart...

Caelan, you are just beginning to use your words to talk and it is so cute. Austin came and told us tonight that you hit him, but out of nowhere you started saying, "... hit me. hit me" I then asked Austin what happened, and sure enough he had hit you. I started laughing because now you (Caelan) could defend yourself and not be ran over by a tattling sibling. It was so cute.

Austin Witcher - Happy 5th Birthday!!

Austin, you are the first child I will begin writing about. You turned 5 this past week and even though I feel guilty I have not been better about writing in this the past few years, and even though I have not started with the oldest or the first birthday this year, I am just happy I am starting. I have thought of so many things to say over the past years... thoughts that are lost only to be reminded of in heaven someday. Some that I am glad are lost, and some that I wished I had written down. But you cannot change the past... something I am reminded of over and over. You can only start with today.

You are beginning school this year... homeschool for now... and you are doing such a great job. You are so smart in math, and you love to do the work. You are alot like your mom. I think you are motivated by a challenge, and if you have a worksheet you are motivated to finish it and for it to be done quickly and right. You will be such an encouragement to Levi. He is such a smart boy, he just is not the sit down and learn it type. He learns as he goes, and if he really learns it, he never for gets it.

So Happy Birthday Austin!! I love you so much! and look forward to spending everyday with you until you leave our home, or one of us goes and waits for the other one in heaven.

"God made the soft stuff" by Austin Witcher

This last Christmas while visiting with my husbands family in Texas, we had a little incident that surprised us all. We were all out feeding the cows by burning off the cacti needles with a blow torch (I know you think this is going to be a fire disaster story) and I finally got tired of all that fun and decided to go to Wal-mart with my baby and my 1 year old. It was nice to get back to a little civilization (okay, as much civilization that Lampasas can muster up) and I ended up driving from one end of town to the other (which took about 10 minutes) and back looking for Wal-mart. After about 30 minutes I pulled into the parking lot and was getting out of the car when I got a phone call from my husband.

He said our 6 year old son, Levi, had been bit by grandpa's dog. Now grandpa had continued to tell us not to get into "Whisky's" face, because it scared him, but our son Levi, loving animals so much, just could not keep from getting all over and around him and... in his face. Therefore he now had a number of teeth mark and a tear in his cheek that looked a whole lot worse than it was.

So I drove to the Lampasas Hospital, the same place my husband had been born, about 10 minutes down the road and prepared to go in and wait for him. As I was getting my babies out of the car I smelled something really horrible. I thought, oh no, Caelan is really stinky and I didn't have any wipes or diapers, but when I dug through the car, I found 1 diaper and was so excited of my find... until I realized it wasn't my son who was stinky, but my 1 year old and it was one of those situations where you can't wear the clothes anymore, so I found a shirt of her brother's in the car, and just tied a jacket around her waist as a skirt.

This is not the best part of the story though. While Ken and I and Levi and our two youngest kids were at the hospital, our second son Austin, age 4, stayed back with grandpa who was a little upset about the dog situation. I think there was the possibility of a large fee if the authorities had to quarantine Whisky until they could prove he didn't have rabies. Now Whisky was a sweet dog, he was just not used to children, and when a child got in his face it scared him.

So Austin was walking around the farm and ultimately the house with Grandpa who was contemplating every thing in silence, and in one certain moment while staring out the large glass window in his bedroom, Austin said, "Don't worry Grandpa, God is going to take care of everything... because God made everything. Actually he didn't make everything, just the soft stuff.

Now Grandpa, who is not what you would call a regular church attender, told Ken and I this later on that day and was impressed with Austin's insight into his description of God. I was shocked at how my little man truly understood so much of what we had been attempting to teach our kids in our home.

Being a mom of 4 kids within 4 1/2 years of each other has been very challenging these past few years. It has truly taken me to the end of myself in way I had never imagined, but the reward that I am receiving now is awesome, and it makes all the hard times worth it.

I Love My Kids!!

Hey kids! I just want to say how much I love you. You are my favorite people to be around in this world. Phelicia you talk non-stop and make me laugh. Caelan, you are into everything, make it hard to homeschool, make the house a mess, but you love your mama. Levi, you are the sweetest caretaking kindhearted thoughtful boy I know. Austin, Austin, Austin, Austin... you drive me nuts sometimes because you are so much like me... which means you are tenderhearted, loving, fiesty, wear you heart on your sleeve, and want to be noticed... but you are the middle child and often get overlooked... which means your heart is broken often. I love you my little stinkyface...

1 week too long

Well, we all survived your father's and my trip to London and France... but barely. I had a great time actually, and thought you guys were having a great time also... but when I got home and realized how hard it was on you, I said to myself I will never do that again... unless of course God tells me to go somewhere. :-) My heart was so sad to see how hard of a time you guys had. I live my life for you... well, for God first, but he put you in my life and I would lay my life down for you to have better one.